Quickies Come Marching In…

James Carroll is shocked, shocked!

The Act would force the CIA to abandon torture and follow the Army Field Manual’s directives on interrogation, which expressly forbids torture.

John ‘McTorture’ McCain voted against the bill.

Dozens of former military leaders favor the bill, and one might assume that current military leaders, at least those that haven’t lost their minds to Bush and the right wing political and religious extremists, likely favor the bill.

Carroll’s take is credible and spot on.

Was he was or was he wasn’t? The Globe won’t tell you…

There’s a letter in the Globe today claiming to be from a Frank E. Mullen of North Easton. It’s on the editorial page with all the other letters from readers.

What makes Mullen’s letter unusual is that it is making a claim of insider knowledge, presenting it as fact, on a key element of the Iraq invasion.

Mullen claims he was “was an officer on the Pentagon’s Joint Staff, and a military briefer to Donald Rumsfeld, then secretary of defense, during the months leading up to the invasion in 2003. I was in his office at least weekly during this time.”

He goes on to say that there was no hard decision to invade Iraq until shortly before “our forces crossed the border”, in support of his claim that the “Bush administration was not “bent on launching an attack in any case.”

He further states as fact that “it was apparent that there was considerable debate and uncertainty until very shortly before our forces crossed the border.” That doesn’t strike The Lion as entirely credible. Having spent hundreds of millions, or more, on putting a major invasion force on the borders of a country 6,000 miles away, coupled with Bush’s known lust to topple Saddam Hussein, suggests that debate on the act of actually invading was hardly serious.

Mullen’s claim flies in the face of other credible sources stating that Bush was determined to invade from day one of his ill-begotten Presidency.

Yet the Globe, in its apparent newsly wisdom, presents no indication that they investigated Mullen’s claim before publishing it. Were Mullen merely expressing an opinion the Globe would have no need to investigate.

But Mullen is making a claim of fact and a claim of personal witness in a seminal issue of the whole foul mess in Iraq. The Globe allowed him to present it with no check, no vetting, not even a cursory check to see if he indeed even worked at the Pentagon.

The Bush administration is known to lie, to deceive, and to manipulate the press through deceit and lies. One might think the Globe editorial staff would have, after all Bush has done to destroy the credibility of the press, been more careful.

Mullen may be legitimate and honest. But readers will never know that, thanks to the Boston Globe and the policies of the Bush administration.

The Lion, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, assumes that his letter is a plant and without merit, and that those insider sources claiming Bush had made the decision to invade Iraq long before even 9/11 are still to be considered credible and accurate.

McCain touts his experience as a soldier, yet his attitudes are antithetical to the philosophy of the officer corps of the U.S. military. He is not a gentleman. He does not respect either the Uniform Code of Military Justice, nor does he respect international laws governing warfare. He treats those under him with disdain. He lies. He does not plan his actions, nor does he understand logistics (his campaign has been caught unprepared numerous times). And, most important to serving officers, he no longer has any honour.

He was a legacy officer. He was eased out quickly after coming back from his horrific experiences as a POW. Had he been a worthwhile officer at the time, he would have remained in the Navy. He was, by all accounts, a good pilot. He just was not a good officer.

I do remember officers like him in the Army. Quite a few were ring knockers. One Second Lieutenant I had the misfortune of serving under (for a short period of time) was very proud of the fact that he was the fourth — his father, grandfather, and great grandfather were all ring knockers. I can only hope his progenitors were not the compete asshole he was. This is not to say that the Point does not produce good officers, I just didn’t meet very many.

Its sad that he has based his entire political career on something he really wasn’t very good at. Had he not been shot down, he’d be an insurance salesman in Des Moines (not meant as an insult to either insurance salesmen, or Des Moinians).

Actually, Johnny Boy makes insurance salesmen look good. I’ve always found them to be among the most boring people on the face of the earth. But when Johnny McTorture opens his mouth to speak, I promptly fall asleep. He has the worst delivery… and it almost seems as if he’s barely restraining some inner rage. Just what the world needs, another psychopath in the White House.

Note to insurance salesmen: Really, you’ve got to make an effort to talk about something besides insurance when you’re off the clock.